This May Met Éireann will be launching its ‘MÉRA’ climate reanalysis dataset. This 35 year meteorological gridded dataset will have many potential applications within the Irish Agrometeorology community "Climate reanalysis is a systematic approach used to produce meteorological datasets for climate monitoring and research. They are created using a fixed version of a forecast model and a data assimilation system which utilises historical observations and they produce parameters that are phy...

Using a surface energy balance approach to characterise agro-environmental zones in Ireland in support of on-farm decision making Background "Farming, particularly pastoral farming, involves the management of biological processes within a specific ecological and weather environment to generate income which in turn is also a function of the costs of inputs used on farm and prices for the outputs of the farm activity. Biological processes exhibit significant spatial and temporal variability whic...

Relatively warm temperatures across Ireland in January saw many flowers arrive uncharacteristically early. However we were not the only ones feeling the warmth. Globally January 2017 has been confirmed as the third hottest January on record, with the majority of North America and Siberia experiencing a very warm month. See who has been feeling the heat on the NASA website. This follows 2016 which was confirmed as the hottest year on record to date, surpassing even the exceptionally high globa...

The European Meteorological Society (EMS) annual conference is coming to Ireland this September. The European Conference for Applied Meteorology and Climatology will run from the 4th – 8th September 2017 in Dublin. This conference typically attracts over 600 people each year from all related sectors. This year there is a dedicated session on Agricultural Meteorology. Attendance, as well as the presentation of an oral or poster presentation is open to all (conference fee applies). Ireland's ag...

Shefayim, Israel, 14th– 24th May 2017 The Israel Meteorological Service has provided training at a post-graduate level since 1967.  Several thousands of participants from all over the world, mainly from developing countries, have taken advantage of lessons learnt to study the application of meteorology to various aspects of economic activity. Since Israel was successful with developing agriculture, despite the negative impact of its climate and water resources scarcity on its agricultural ...

A Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Agriculture and Forest Sector is being developed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). A public consultation process is ongoing and DAFM are inviting written submissions. [Update: submission deadline has now passed]. Submissions received will help to inform the completion of this sectoral plan in the coming months. For further details and an excellent overview of how Agriculture and Forests relate to weather and climate in Ir...

Each year, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine advises farmers of the predicted risk of disease caused by liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) infection in livestock based on advice received from the Liver Fluke Advisory Group. Source: DAFM - Press Release, November 2016 The Disease Forecast "The risk of disease due to liver fluke infection is high for most parts of the country apart from isolated areas of the east and southeast where there is a risk of occasional losses in un...

By Jim Collins (UCD) - In the realms of Irish science, the names of Tom Keane and AGMET are inextricably entwined.  In the 1970s, Tom who saw a need to link like-minded individuals, then loosely associated to the discipline of agrometeorology.  He arranged with the Met Éireann Director to call a meeting of invited individuals to its Glasnevin HQ, on Feb 29 1984. AGMET was born there and then and Tom was asked to be convener of subsequent meetings and to arrange a programme of work. And what a p...

‘Soils wetter than normal nearly everywhere’ Met Éireann operates a Soil Moisture Deficit (SMD) model based on the research by Schulte at al.† This model accounts for three different drainage regimes, approximating different soil types in Ireland. These are: well drained, where the soil never saturates; moderately drained, where the soil may saturate on wet days and poorly drained, where the soil saturates on wet days and is slow to drain this excess water. Further details of these soil drain...